22 Marlin Model 60, Picky Eater

I bought a Marlin model 60 about 25 years ago and it has been in the safe unfired for the last 20 years. The reason I haven't shot it in so long is because it always jammed and that just took the fun out of shooting for me.

I cleaned and oiled it up real nice and took it to the range today, with a box of Federal 500, remington 550 ( both wally world bulk packs) and 1 box of CCI mini mags.

The shooting started with the Fed/Rem bulk pack ammo and again jamming about 1 in every 4 shots, so, I tried the mini mags and all 100 fired without a hitch. I loaded it up with 15 minimags ea. time and twice fired all 15 rounds in rapid fire.

That 100 round pack of mini mags made shooting the Marlin the most fun I ever had with the gun.

I guess you get what you pay for and I will never buy that cheap ammo again, Oh Ya, my Ruger MKIII had the exact same results with all 3 brands of ammo, jammed with Fed/Rem bulk pack ammo, not a hitch with mini mags.

Only jams I have had with my Marlin 60 was with Remington bulk Golden Bullets and a a dirty gun.

rangerruck

November 9, 2008, 01:45 PM

you have 2 problems going on here; regardless of age, you have a brand new semi auto, forget that it is a marlin, it is a brand new semi auto. this requires a break in. also, you do not want to over lube a marlin mod 60, this is a big no no. just lube around the bolt assy, and if you have a dry lube, even better.
then, you need to run at least a brick of hi velocity rounds, that are solid points, copper washed, through it. this should be good for a breakin period, polishing up that feed ramp a bit, the trigger parts a bit, the inside of the reciever, and outside of the bolt assy. After this, go ahead and buy some single size boxes of standard velocity,sub sonics, solid leads, hollow points, etc., to see what else it now likes. Traditionally , the feddy and winny bulk pacs work fine, do not buy anything remington ammo of any kind ; single boxes or bulk pac, UNLESS IT IS ORANGE BOX, OR YELLOW BOX, and says ELEY across the front of the box. All CCI, Aguila, or Eley, along with wolf, golden eagle,winchester, or red box American eagles, all these will be great, along with exceptional accuracy.

TheGrimReaper

November 9, 2008, 03:50 PM

Yep Model 60's like to stay clean. They get dirty and they get fussy!!!

TCB in TN

November 9, 2008, 07:49 PM

Yep Model 60's like to stay clean. They get dirty and they get fussy!!!

All auto loaders have these issues, in my experience the model 60 is less picky than most.

CRITGIT

November 9, 2008, 09:18 PM

Love those CCI Mini Mags! Best bang for the $$ in all my guns.
Rem's are jam bait and = a dirty gun.... Feds are much better but Mini Mags are consistent and hotter than most.
Glad you got it figured out!

CRITGIT

rangerruck

November 9, 2008, 09:55 PM

see here what is being said about the typical remmy ammo? Multiply that in your head times infinity plus 2... if you see the remmy ammo with an orange lid , or yellow lid, you are fine, because it is Eley made ammo! tee hee...

vicdotcom

November 9, 2008, 10:05 PM

All you have to do is look at the casings of the shells and that will tell you why your rifle likes CCI Mini-mags. Those shells are IMMACULATE. In the bulk boxes, the shells rub up against the bullets. The wax/coating that the .22 bullets get rubs up against all the other shells and gunks it up. That gunk makes it takcy and prevents good extractions in the rifles I tried shooting.

I tested it and cleaned off 100 rounds of bulk ammo and test fired it. 0 jams. I tried uncleaned bulk ammo again and jammed up after a few shots again.

All I shoot are boxed cci's now. The packaging keeps any bullets to contact the shells and gunking them up.